How to Start Meditating: A Beginner’s Guide to How Long to Practice

How do I start meditating? And how long should I meditate? You don’t need special equipment, a perfectly quiet room, or an empty mind to begin.

Start with two minutes.

How do I start meditating?

For this practice, choose an anchor for your attention and return to it when you notice your mind has wandered. That returning point is crucial - without it your mind will wander. Think of an astronaut tethered to the International Space Station. That anchor is your tether.

1. Choose a comfortable place. A chair is fine. You don’t have to sit in the lotus position. Let your feet rest on the floor, preferably without shoes. Socks are fine. You don’t need to sit cross-legged or hold yourself rigidly. Just relax.
2. Set a timer for two minutes. This is a starting suggestion, not a rule. I professionally recommend 5 minutes as an absolute minimum for meditation. Anything less than this and you are really getting nothing from the practice. Meditation must be practiced consistently and persistently, like an exercise routine, otherwise you will get nothing from it. Meditation is the exercise of the internal world.
3. Close your eyes. Close your eyes and begin to notice the back of your eyelids. Your eyes will move around, almost like REM sleep.
4. Do not focus on your breathing. Contrary to Westernized belief, you do not focus on your breath while meditating. This takes away from the actual practice of meditation which is the focusing on your heart, the sole life force where all energy flows through you.
5. Instead, notice your surroundings - focus on the “outside”. The actual practice of meditation comes down to focusing on the sounds around you. This may be birds outside, or cars passing by. The purpose is to focus on the outside as “redirects”, or anchors, which will bring you anchored to the present. As you get deeper in the meditation you will…
6. Focus on the outside/ inside - your external body. As you get deeper in meditation you will gradually and naturally turn your attention away from the outside world - the anchors of sound - to the outside/ inside world, i.e., your external body. You will focus on your legs, feet, arms, hands, fingers, head, etc. This will happen naturally as a gradual deepening of meditation. This is why I recommend at least 30 minutes - though as you begin, you will do 5 minutes. Remember: meditation is a practice, not a race. You do not get stronger by walking into the gym your first day and lift 500 lbs. You must first start with a light weight, then progress.
7. Focus on your inside - the heart and your emotions. The last and final step on the physical realm access of meditating is focusing on your heart and emotions. Your heart is the centralized mechanism through which all emotions deviate. You will listen and feel your heart beat, the blood pumping through it. You will listen to your emotions. Feeling angry, sad, or excited. Let them pass through you, see them. You will understand why they are there and why you are feeling a certain way. Often, insight will come into why you are feeling a certain way. This is the point of meditation: to shine a light on and clear out the baggage of our internal world.
8. Return to your anchor. When you notice your mind wander - and it will many times - return it to the present by your anchor - the focusing on the sounds outside you (not your breath.)
9. Finish without degrading yourself. When the timer ends, open your eyes, notice your surroundings and come back to the present. 90% of meditating is showing up day in and day out. You are doing something most people don’t want (or are afraid) to do. Commend yourself for showing up and being on the path.
10. Prepare for your next practice. Intention is everything. While meditation is about letting go, preparing for and setting a schedule for your next meditation practice is the best thing you can do, even if that simply means, “I will meditate tomorrow.” It doesn’t have to be at a set time, though that helps too, such as meditating in the morning before work or school. This will help you set up a routine you consistently stick to. Then it will be harder for you to not meditate. Meditating should be taken as seriously as exercise. It is exercise for the internal mind.

How long should I meditate?

Begin with a length you can do.

Try two minutes for your first few sessions. If you want more, try five minutes. Later, you might experiment with ten minutes. You can also stay with a short practice. There’s no deadline for increasing it.

A simple first-week experiment is to sit for two minutes after an everyday activity, such as brushing your teeth or making your morning drink, though I recommend first thing in the morning or last thing at night. If you miss a day, begin again when you remember. The more you remain consistent and keep bringing yourself to the path, the better you will become.

Contradiction?

“Getting better at meditating?” And while showing up certainly is an aspect of it, just like anything else, showing up consistently and persistently is required to get really good at the practice.

What if I can’t stop thinking?

You don’t have to stop thinking. You might remember an errand, plan dinner, or wonder whether the timer is working. Notice what happened and return to your anchor. A busy session can still be a session in which you practiced noticing and returning.

What if I feel restless or uncomfortable?

This is natural and the reason for starting small. Meditation is in many ways a muscle memory and surrendering experience. It can be scary for newcomers. When people perform a hard job over and over, they are conditioning their body through forced repetition. Meditation is forced conditioning of the mind through - paradoxically - letting go of thoughts and feelings to better understand them, like throwing a boomerang. Relax and go through the steps we talked about. It’s no mystery that meditation - the art of slowing down your internal in a fast paced world - can and should seep into every aspect of your life. This is why we do it - to surrender to difficult experiences. And surrendering to darkness and your own internal mind is where all fear begins. Do not force stillness or push through discomfort. Instead let it go, relax, walk through the steps like we talked about, and let the practice work for you. Muscle memory. Like skilled operators, “training kicks in.” Meditation is where flow state is born - in a relaxed mind.

Would a class help me get started?

If you prefer exploring meditation through questions and answers, take a look at David Léasure’s Meditation and Mindfulness Class. His videos use a question-and-answer format, offering another way to explore the subject alongside your practice.

You don’t need to take a class before trying the two-minute exercise above. Start small, notice what works, and build from there.

Quick Summary

Sit comfortably, set a short timer on your phone. Notice your anchor(s), focus on the sounds outside of you, i.e., birds, cars, etc. When your mind wanders, return to those anchors. As you progress beyond 5 minutes, notice the outside/ inside world - your body. I.e., feet, legs, arms, hands, etc. Then when you graduate to 30 minutes + begin to notice and focus on your internal world - your thoughts, mind, heart, and feelings - through the process of not forcing, but letting go.

Try 2 minutes to begin, preferably 5 minutes. Add time in later sessions when you progress. Remember: meditation is not a race, and not a practice in which you have to perform perfectly. Imperfectly perfect is exceptionally acceptable.